Greater London Authority

The Greater London Authority appears in the book as the funder of research that recorded the scale of rough sleeping in London across 2013. Its significance lies in supporting a count that sharply contrasts with the government’s much smaller one-night snapshot, exposing how the choice of method shapes public understanding of homelessness.

Role in Homelessness Research

The book associates the Greater London Authority with the Homelessness and Information Network’s research into people sleeping rough in London. The network undertook the research; the Authority funded it. This connection places the Authority within the book’s account of how homelessness is measured and made visible, rather than presenting it as the author of the findings.

The 2013 London Count

The network’s research gave a figure of 6,508 people sleeping rough on London’s streets during 2013. For the same period, government statistics using a snapshot method put the number at 543. The account sets these figures side by side to show the difference between tracking rough sleeping across a year and counting on a single night; the lower snapshot does not represent the same span of experience.

Significance in the Account

The Greater London Authority’s funding role supports the book’s wider scrutiny of official homelessness figures. A count based on one night can leave people outside its frame, while the network’s annual figure presents a substantially larger picture of rough sleeping in London. The Authority is therefore linked to evidence that complicates a reassuringly low headline total, though the book does not attribute the network’s research methods or conclusions directly to the funder.